Madison County parks director terminated over spending records

MADISON COUNTY, Tenn. — The former director of Madison County Parks is devastated that he lost his job. He says that he has been wrongfully terminated.

“It was like a storm, and I’m still, I’m still spinning. I’ve spent three years here working very hard to improve our parks, our county park, made major improvements, opened two brand new parks, one’s gonna open Saturday that I won’t get to attend, because we don’t want me there anymore,” said Matthew Martin, former director of Madison County Parks.

But other commissioners think differently.

“I feel like he was terminated fairly, because he had been talked to about this same issue. 
He didn’t itemize his spending,” said Aaron Billy Ellison, County Commissioner District 7.

According to Matthew, he has brought a lot of money in to the city with helping fund parks, but this is what Ellison says.

“You have to suffer consequences and that is, to be terminated, because he is dealing with county funds, he suppose to have a record of all these kind of funds and he did not have that.
And when they come to the park, he said we were gonna have a walking trail,” said Ellison.

Martin said he would have been even more overbudget if they had the walking trail. The walking trail was going to be phase two but the county commissioner would not match the grant. That grant was put to bed.

“What was shared with me that, there was some questions about the walking park. And I was told that it was on phase two, not phase one. We are on phase one. I was told, too, that Mr. Martin had been trying to reach some commissions to talk about it, and they was unavailable to talk,” said Shelia Godwin, County Commissioner District 5

Martin said he poured his all into his position and and for it to be gone unfairly is not right.

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